DIY tank lid &lighting setup

When I received a tank for Christmas, from my lovely girlfriend, two years ago I felt that my good old passion is turning back.
I have to admit that I have left the hobby for the last few years, but after receiving this tank, the aquatic fever came back with a huge power.
I plunged myself into a quest for refreshing and enriching my knowledge in the field of aquaristics and soon I realized that I have missed a lot for the time being busy with other things :)
After reading a lot and seeing the achievements of Mr. Amano and all his followers, I felt, this will be the filed of the hobby, where to concentrate my effort.
So I had to find or make a lid, that will support a decent light fixture.
I decided to made the lid myself, which would give me the advantage of constructing and fixing a light fixture I choose.

I made a project and this is what I came with:



The apertures on the backside serves as a passage for all the hoses and cables passing out of the tank.



For material I have used 5 mm PVC Forex for the sides and front lid, 1cm tick PVC for the top part (the one supporting the lights), some plastic edges, 2 magnets, silicone, glue, 2 glass strips, lolly pop stick and two pins.





The glass strips is used for reinforcing the PVC lid, which tends to bend in time, because of the heat emitted of the lights.



I have decided, that for a 100l tank I will need unless 50-60 W of lighting. Considering the supply of specialized aquatic lights in Bulgaria in that time, this amount could be only provided by T8 fluorescent tubes.
So I decided to use 3 tubes of 18W. For the purpose I needed a good reflectors for distributing the light in the best possible way.

I have used the shape recommended by Tony Gomez:



This shape seems to provide the best light reflection with the lowest energy lost.
It was quite tricky to achieve this shape, thou, but its worthy!



Two pins and a lolly pop stick have been used for creating the axis for rotating the upper part of the lid, where all the reflectors and lights are placed.



Here you can see the sockets, lid holders and the magnet lockers I have used.

This simple DIY lid has been doing the job almost a year and a half and still doing it!

Old forest - nano project

I have started this set up 3 months ago:

Tank: 20x20x20cm - 8l
Lighting: PL-L 11W 6000K for 8h
Substrat: Earthworm castings as a base and sand
Flora: Riccia, Mayaca Vendeli, small pinch of HC(survived from the last scape), Hemianthus micranthemoides.
Fauna: Some red cherry.
Fertilizers: AquaGo Green liquid fertilizer, Glutaraldehyde 0,2 ml per day.
Filter: hanging up filter
Water changes: 50 % per week

The begining:




First attempt planting:



Birds eye view:



For mesh I'm using a bath mesh sponge of this kind:



The tank flooded:




After replanting and adding HM:





The Riccia pearling:



In this early stage I was supplying the nano tank with CO2 through adding soda water. This idea I got from one set up of Oliver Knot. It seems quite unconventional, but it has worked for some time. After a discussion on the UKAPS I have checked the water parameters:
Tank water: KH 7
Tab water: KH 2
Soda water: KH 9
The conclusion is, that the soda water affects the KH and maybe the Ph, I dont have tests right now.
I suppose this affect the development of the plants, particularly the hemianthus. Also when I do water changes, this will be a stress for both plants and shrimps.
So I decided to supply CO2 by Glutaraldehyde.

Then problem with the riccia occurred:


It has became whitish.
I have got to the conclusion that the reason was the incompatibility of the Riccia with the Glutaraldehyde.
Here some pictures with different background:






Not very successful attempt for sunset :)



After reducing the dosage of the Glutaraldehyde it has recovered, but the other plants reduced their growth rate. Also the riccia was growing out of control, I have decided to remove it and leave the HC to take over.
I have concidered a lot of patience needed for this purpose.
Soon some pictures will be loaded!

After spending sometime waiting for the HC to fill in, I have decided to make some little changes to the scape and this is what I came with:



I'm planning of planting some Hydrocotyle verticillata in the middle to create a nice transition between foreground and background.

Here I have tried to achieve an dept of the scape:



I have also introduced 3 Boraras Brigittae, which are wonderful small fishes, ideal for a nano tank!

The evolution of my 100l scape

The parameters of the tank are as follows:

Tank: 100 l
Lighting: 54 W T8(Silvania Grolux, Phillips aquarelle 865,) 10h a day
Plants: Rotala Green, Bolbitis heudelotii, Cryptocoryne wendtii, Ludwigia glandulosa, Microsorum pteropus, Taxiphyllum barbieri.
Ferts: EI+ Dupla 24+Glutaraldehidescape
Substrate: plain sand 2 mm with a base of earthworm castings,mixed with sand in proportion 1:3(2 cm tick layer)
CO2: pressurized system, 1 b/sec for 10h.
Filter: Eheim 2213

This was my initial vision for the scape - jungle alike:



after trimming:



I have experienced quite severe algae problems with this setup, mainly Hair algae.
I think the main reason was the wrong fertilizing routine. I have been using solution of KNO3 and KH2PO4 + Dupla Plant 24 for supplying the micros. The plants were growing relatively well, but the algae issue was persisting in the tank. I have tried to combat it by applying glutaraldehide(the chemical used in all the commercially sold liquid carbon sources), but this only killed already established colonies of algae. After the next water change they were coming back.
IMO the Dupla ferts does not consist the right amount of micros - particularly Fe and this leaded to deficiency and outbreak of algae.
After obviously loosing this battle(the lilaeopsis was all tangled in algae) I decided to rescape.
So I have removed the most of the plants and change the position of the root.
Then the idea for the new scape was born :)



I have started dosing the new fertilizer of the Bulgarian brand "AquaGo Green " and the results are more than satisfying. No more algae!

After 2 weeks:



Some more pics:



The creaping Heternathera Zosterifoliais very interesting issue!It has left from the previous scape, probably just a small shoot, which has grown this big in 3 weeks time.

My lovely Ottos:



The stunning Hatchets:



Well, not exactly the Amano's glassware, but still doing the job:



Here are some more pics of the development of this scape:



The glory of the Ludwigia Granduloza:











The Cryptocorine Wendii is trying to take over my aquarium:



It seems that it is taking over the substrate as well.
When I have uprooted some of it, there were roots almost the half size of the tank.

This pictures were taking after the last pruning I have done.
I'm considering of using smaller leafed plants in my next scape, because in this particular one, the Cryptocorine and Microsorium filled the tank to quickly.Also it appears to small, when using plants with leafs so wide .





The symbiosis of the species:



I adore the rich red color of my red cherry's:



The greatest algae-hopper of all times - Yamato shrimp:



My Hatchets wondering about: